Gov. Perry Vetoes HB 1457

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

Pursuant to Article IV, Section 14 of the Texas Constitution, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, do hereby disapprove of and veto House Bill No. 1457 of the 81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, due to the following objections:

House Bill No. 1457 would require the secretary of state to develop a system for accepting voter registration applications when the information provided by the voter does not match the indentifying information for that individual in the records of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) or other state agencies.

Most significantly, this bill would put the responsibility for correcting any mistake in the wrong hands. The secretary of state does not see the application filed with the county voter registrar and therefore is not in a position to determine whether the mismatched information was due to a typographical error at the county level or to incorrect information given by the applicant. A misspelled name or incorrect date of birth on a voter registration application is a strong indication that the application was filled out by someone other than the rightful voter.

Additionally, requiring acceptance of names on voter rolls that do not match the DPS database would impede the ability to keep the rolls accurate; voters’ names would not match other state records, which would consequently prevent them being removed from the voter rolls due to death, imprisonment or other legitimate reasons.

While Texas should make every effort to ensure that clerical errors do not prevent legitimate voters from registering, the secretary of state is in no position to determine where the error occurred; this is best done at the county level where voter applications are received.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have signed my name officially and caused the Seal of the State to be affixed hereto at Austin, this the 19th day of June, 2009.

RICK PERRY
Governor of Texas

ATTESTED BY:
COBY SHORTER, III
Deputy Secretary of State

For a detailed view of this bill, visit http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HB1457.